The Tri-Cities International Fantastic Film Festival begins tomorrow, with my science fiction short film MARS-II screening on the 28th of September in two days. This is currently the final screening in America for MARS-II, being a part of two film festivals in Detroit and Pasco earlier in 2014. MARS-II premiered at the 38th Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, screened in South Africa for Celludroid and was an opening film in Toronto for Monsters & Martians Science Fiction Short Film Festival. It has also screened in India and was short-listed for the Golden Blaster at The National Irish Science Fiction Film Awards! Myself and others who worked on the film are delighted that it's been seen by so many audiences around the world and I'll be bringing the film online imminently - getting our work in front of more people. You can read about the MARS-II production, behind the scenes and more in my Champion Up North interview (including a very peculiar story while filming).

Anna Jung Seo's her 81 paces exhibition, which I shot for VIDEOS FOR ARTISTS #4 at the A&D Gallery, has now concluded. The video and latest in the web series will be online soon. Check out these new preview images to see Anna's brilliant work up close and some of what will be included:

Thanks for reading my blog! I sincerely appreciate your time. You can interact with me on Twitter﻿ with my handle ﻿@PaulEVernon and don't hesitate to contact me if you want to know more about my films or the Videos For Artists web series, which has documented work in the Barbican Centre and for the London Contemporary Dance School. I'm always looking for new projects, clients and collaborators; maybe that's you? Until next time...

San DiegoComic-Con 2014OFFICIAL SELECTION﻿San Diego International Children's Film Festival﻿

UPDATE: 'A Film By Abigail' will screen in Programme 5 as the second film in what's dubbed "Best of Fest" and described as "Some of the best shorts from 11 years of the festival, take a trip back in time enjoying again some of the all-time favorites!"See the schedule in full on comic-con.org.

Exclusively announced on the TRAVELLING MAN FACEBOOK page - the best and my favourite comic book shop - my short documentary A FILM BY ABIGAIL will screen at the world renowned and highly anticipated SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2014! It is in the Official Selection of the San Diego International Children's Film Festival on 27th of July. If you're unfamiliar with SDCC, this is the number one event where huge announcements/panels are held for TV, film and comics. Although it's rooted in the science fiction and superhero genres first and foremost, the event has become an annual phenomenon in which celebrities, tv shows, premieres, producers, writers, directors, actors... will all be present and it is the most important popular arts convention in the world. To be a part of it with one of my films is astounding. As a comic book reader who (and will still this year) wait for the major trailers/announcements trying to one up each other, cliche or not, it is a dream come true to have my work there. To give you an idea of its magnitude and cross-form appeal here are some of the illustrious sponsors: AMC, Warner Bros, MTV, Nintendo, Showtime, Marvel, DC Entertainment, Xbox and Sony Pictures.

...this year presents many new shorts, as well as favorites celebrating the past decade of the festival. The festival features creative, exciting, and imaginative short films from around the world: animation, live action, and documentary... films from the United States, Canada, Italy, Hungary, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Spain, and beyond."- Description of children's film festival from: comic-con.org

'A Film By Abigail' recently screened at WonderCon 2014, the sister event from Comic-Con International, the WonderCon Anaheim International Children's Film Festival and also at the 25th Internationales Film Festival Emden/Norderney in Germany as the opener of a British showcase of work curated by the London Short Film Festival. In addition to the San Diego Comic-Con screening, I have decided to coincide the event with the film finally releasing online publicly as well!

Some other quick notes before you leave... my science fiction short film MARS-II screens in Detroit (USA) in the Official Selection of the Detcon1 Film Festival in a few days on Saturday 19th of July at 7:14pm as part of 'Science Fiction & Fantasy Shorts #4'.

Also, following my blog about three art film commissions on the horizon, I have now successfully completed production on them. Phew! The first ﻿of﻿ which is completed and online (see left), a documentary for my 'Videos For Artists' web series, shot at BARBICAN CENTRE. My film for 'Filthy Lucre: Lost In The Nameless City' where I interpreted London's urban spaces with video/photography screened

at the event a few days ago and was met with a resounding ovation from the audience. I will be writing a separate blog about the making of the film very soon, sharing images of the process and research behind it, as it developed from ideas into a finished piece of work - - - I returned from Denmark about a week ago, and having gone there to shoot two films, I returned with FOUR!! I shot at a rarely captured place called Vallo Castle, dance on a beautiful Copenhagen beach and at a converted Chapel, now a dance studio: Danse Kapellet. There'll be more on these exciting finished or near completed film projects in an upcoming blog post.

Thank you for reading and if you're feeling generous and enjoyed the blog - please hit the share/like buttons to help support/expose my work! If you want, say hello and connect with me on Twitter@PaulEVernon. Until next time...

MARS-II AWARDED OPENING FILM &OFFICIAL SELECTION IN TORONTO

Without further ado... I can finally announce that MARS-II, my MA graduation short film, is a part of the Official Selection for Canada's premiere genre event Monsters & Martians Science Fiction Film Festival! It takes place from the 14th-17th of November 2013 in the cinema city of Toronto, home to the highly regarded Toronto International Film Festival. It was absolutely smashing for the film to be accepted and then I recieved more news a week ago - that we will be OPENING the film festival packaged with feature The Cosmonaut!

In other news, we sadly didn't win a Golden Blaster at The National Irish Science Fiction Film Awards. It was an honour to be a part of it, being one of only ten films selected internationally. There's hopefully (ideally, optimistically) still more on the horizon for MARS-II in terms of screenings, festivals etc. as we move towards the end of 2013 and I'll be sharing the news if/when it comes. Thanks for reading and thank you for supporting a film that has now been screened all around the world in USA, India, South Africa and the UK! AND... keep an eye out for my written interview about MARS-II with Champion Up North, who screened the film at their event last month, the Hush Hush Film Night [The Base] in Leeds. I discuss the film's shooting, themes, influences and all sorts. There's even a few anecdotes... it's really quite revealing.

MARS-IIInOfficial SelectionAtSouth Africa'sCelludroid

Finally, I Can Reveal What I've Been Teasing!MARS-II has made the Official Selection at CELLUDROID. What the hell is CELLUDROID you ask? Well... it isn't just the best name for a film fest I've ever come across but is touted as South Africa's ONLY event of this nature in the country, showing genre films such as science fiction, anime and fantasy. As far as my research took me, it seemed to look like it was the only one of it's kind in the whole continent!

The film has been chosen as one of just seventeen films selected from the many international submissions recieved and will legitimately be it's "African Premiere". The short films have been split into two feature length volumes that'll screen in Cape Town twice according to the site schedule. Following those screenings, Johannesburg is the second destination for CELLUDROID, but this is currently unconfirmed by the organisers. The festival begins at the end of this month and continues into the start of September.The film festival shows feature films too; such as weird and interesting documentaries, recent new films and classics such as PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (directed by Ed Wood).

"The CELLUDROID Short Film Collection presents fantastic shorts from around the galaxy consisting of two separate feature length chapters with sci-fi, fantasy and animation subjects."www.celludroid.net

This announcement comes just days after MARS-II was screened in Hyderabad, India for short film event 'A Short Evening With Films'. With MARS-II containing themes of humanities quests and exploration, it's fitting that the film has broken ground into not one but TWO continents in only a week! Africa and Asia seemed a little out of reach before this week, but now slightly unbelievably, they are a reality. Hopefully... seemingly... desirably... there'll be more to come and this student film will continue to do well.

'MARS-II'SCREENING ININDIA!

Hello again!It's been a short while since my last blog entry and I'm pleased to return with good news via an e-mail last night! My science fiction short film 'MARS-II' has been selected to screen at 'A Short Evening With Films' in Hyderabad, a large city in the South of India. The short film night is set up by Octopus Studios, taking place at the Lamakaan and seems to get quite reasonable audiences at it's open-air screenings. As well as the screening, I will be doing a Skype video 'Q&A' after the film from here in the UK to the audience in India. Although I recieved the acceptance last night, the event is actually only TOMORROW! So not much time to prepare...I'm going to attempt to record the 'Q&A' and I'll share it if it isn't super embarrassing or a complete disaster! (Hopefully not!) - - In the meantime, check out the map of Hyderabad where the film will screen and photos of the last event they held below.

MARS-IIin Official Selection forSnake Alley Festival of Film !

Big news! I'm pleased to (finally) announce that MARS-II, the graduation film I directed, has landed at another American festival! Following on from Boston in February, it has become a part of the Official Selection at the Snake Alley Festival of Film! The short film is within a competitive 'SCI-FI' category and has encouragingly gone through a few rounds of short-listing to reach the fest.

Sadly there aren't currently many more specific details to report on, but you can read about the Iowa festival as a whole HERE. You can also head over to their OFFICIAL PAGE on Facebook to support the festival and keep up to date with it's news. Plus, if you haven't already, please check out the MARS-II Facebook page to support the film and maybe give us a 'LIKE'! More details will be released soon when I have them...